Hizbullah's Loyalty to the Resistance bloc voiced on Thursday its support for efforts that seek to protect the government, while renewing its accusation against the Mustaqbal Movement of standing behind the country's ongoing political deadlock.

It said after its weekly meeting: “We urge the Mustaqbal party to cease evading holding dialogue with Free Patriotic Movement chief MP Michel Aoun.”

Prime Minister Tammam Salam has warned that the state would “collapse” if Baabda Palace remained vacant and the cabinet crisis was not solved, As Safir daily reported on Thursday.

“I have told Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif that (Tehran's) lauding of the (Lebanese) government and its head should be interpreted with bringing a consensual president or else Lebanon would collapse and be destroyed,” Salam said, according to As Safir.

Negotiations between General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim and the Islamic State extremist group have resumed to reach a deal on the release of the captive servicemen, al-Joumhouria newspaper reported Thursday.

The daily said the talks resumed around two weeks ago through a mediator after more than six months of freeze in the negotiations aimed at agreeing on a prisoner swap.

General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim has said that he discussed with Free Patriotic Movement chief MP Michel Aoun ways to resolve the cabinet crisis.

“The door is not closed. There is a possibility to find a solution,” Ibrahim told al-Joumhouria newspaper published on Thursday.

Four people were killed Wednesday as a family dispute escalated into gunfire in the Iqlim al-Kharroub town of Ketermaya, state-run National News Agency reported.

It said a man from the Yassine family shot dead two brothers from the same family and the wife of one of them. The woman is from the Seifeddine family, NNA added.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Wednesday noted that Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun is not Hizbullah's “real” presidential candidate, despite the party's declared stance.

“Hizbullah's real candidate is not General Aoun and it is leaving its actual nominee undeclared until the time of settlement comes,” said Geagea in an interview with Future television.

A committee tasked with evaluating waste management tenders on Wednesday postponed declaring the winning bids pending further assessment, as anti-trash protesters scuffled with security forces outside the Council for Development and Reconstruction where the meeting was held.

“It is necessary to have more than one evaluation for every region,” said Environment Minister Mohammed al-Mashnouq after the meeting.

State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr referred on Wednesday detained Salafist cleric Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir to the Army Intelligence Directorate to expand investigations with him, various media reported.

Two gunman robbed on Wednesday the Credit Libanais Bank branch in Khaldeh taking LL100 million and fleeing to an unknown destination.

One of the gunmen held a military weapon while the other one held a knife threatening the bank employees to succumb to their demands, the state-run National News Agency reported.

Prime Minister Tammam Salam informed Health Minister Wael Abou Faour on Wednesday that there was no decision to dump the capital's waste at Beirut Port.

The state-run National News Agency said Abou Faour telephoned Salam to brief him about the dangers of dumping waste at the port, mainly because of the presence of grain silos there.